Easter

So we had and egg hunt at Bear World, then went to one at Grandma Harts. The Easter bunny also came to our home with a few eggs and chocolate bunnies for all. And we always get new Easter garb for church! I made the girls and I matching hairbows too.
Too late for this year, but I found a program to do once a day for the 7 days leading up to Easter that focuses on Christ and the true celebration of Easter. I'm excited to do it next year!

Bear World!

The day before Easter we went to Bear World and had such a perfect day! It was the first really good weather we had. The animals were so amazing! They had everything from wild turkey, to Bison, to the bears and wolves. We took lots of pictures, but I'm way behind of blogging so I'm just showing the highlights. The animals really do come right up next to your car. At one point we thought a bear was actually going to climb on the hood! And a wolf was so close I could have reached out and touched him! Of course you have to leave your windows up though.

Then we got to go pet the baby bear cubs! That was an incredible experience! They kind of purr like cats only the sound is a bit different and much louder. They were adorable!

After that the kids got to ride their amusement rides and had a blast. Then we had a picnic lunch we packed and brought with us. And then it just so happened that they were having an egg hunt that day, so we participated in that too. Chase won a prize. Evan got alot of candy. Emily didn't get much so Evan gave her his candy. This sharing attitude then remained the rest of the day and they kept doing nice things back and forth for eachother. It was just one of those day when everything was perfect! Everyone got along all day and everything was so fun!
A white wolf sleeping right next to the road.

The petting zoo had deer!

Just one of dozens of bears! They had so many all over the place!

The baby bear cubs! They had about 10 or so.

New Camera!

So our camera has been broken for about a year. It's been ducked taped together and only takes pictures about half the time (or less). We've been borrowing a camera my mom won since Dawson was born so that we could have baby pics of him. But the quality hasn't been that great and she wanted it back, and tax refunds came so here we are! Our cat, Abbot.

The camera has Smile Detection...taking the picture when your subject smiles. You don't have to push a button.

It also has this fun color detection built in!

Pictures taken at Chase's dance class through the glass. Not too bad!

Baby Dawson was bouncing around and the pictures weren't blurry! Fun! He sure loves his bouncy saucer!

!

Ashley turns 12

So on March 12th Ashley turned 12, a day she'd been looking forward to for a long time.

For her she really felt that age 12 represents significant change. She got to graduate from primary and move on to Young Women's. She also got a bedtime extension. And also now she gets to wear a little bit of make-up.

So to celebrate this monumental birthday we decided to have a mom and daughter day.

We started off with face masks.

Then I took her to get a massage from my friend Belinda.

After that we headed to The Haircut Lady's house for a make-over.

She got a cut, and style. Then she did her make-up (for the first official time)

Next we headed to buy her a new outfit and then get pictures taken.

We got a little hungry so we stopped for our favorite, a jamba juice!

Then we did a little more shopping and then we headed home for dinner and family movie night/combined with having her friends over for a party. We had a great time.

She came home to some surprises. The house was decorated and dad had made a double layer chocolate raspberry cake! He also bought candles that had colored flames!

Then the next Saturday she had a surprise for me she'd been waiting 3 weeks to tell me! She had gotten a Bishop's interview and obtained a temle recommend for Baptisms!

So we went and spent Saturday afternoon doing that with Shaya (her adopted big sister) and Dad. Dad actually got to do the baptisms with her and confirm her. It was a really neat experience. She went again the next Wed morning at 5:30 AM! Then she went again the Saturday after that. And again 3 more times during Spring break! She says she feels so much better and happier when she goes.

Many big things this week!

Chase learned to crawl out of his crib, so we got out the big boy bed for him! He was very excited!

Then today Ashley graduated from Primary and also went to her first Fireside.

She told me it was about Patriarchal Blessings. She even took notes!

Then later tonight Dawson had his first bottle. Giving up nursing is always bittersweet.

And Justin wants me to mention that TV just saved our lives....

So we don't have cable or Satelite, but we do watch some select shows through Netflix online which is hooked up to our tv. For some reason the internt wasn't pulling up so Justin was checking the connection to find the the surge protector was FRIED! Burnt, black and all! Could have easily been a fire. We feel very grateful that it wasn't!

And last night we went to closing night of Pirates of Penzance while dressed as Pirates! It was a fun night and a hilarious show!

Sad week

So last week was one of the most sad weeks of my life. The week before last my 2 year old, Chase had been sick for a few days and only wanted to be in my arms. Occasionally though I would have to set him down to nurse the baby. So I assumed it would be inevitable that the baby would catch whatever he had. So even though Chase had a fever and was sleepy for about 3 days, it wasn't too bad so I figured the same would hold true it baby Dawson got it. I thought perhaps we had gotten away without passing on the bug since it had been 3 days and baby seemed fine. But sure enough Saturday he started acting fussy and the beginnings of a cough took hold. It progressed rather quickly into a fever and a tight cough and tiredness the next day. Every day after that he was just completly lethargic. It was so heartbreaking. He is normally such a cuddly baby, but he wanted only to be held long enough to eat. Then he preferred to be left alone, laying there like a rag doll not moving a muscle with constant meager whimper. He kept sleeping alot too, which is quite unlike Dawson, who usually prefers to be around people all day (and night).
His fever broke for just a bit Saturday morning so although I missed a great Relief Society event, I did figure it would be ok to go to a mother daughter event that night, which was also Ashley very last acheivment day activity.
But the next morning the fever was still there, and being 8 days now we figured we'd better take him in. Of course we choose the only day the Pediatrition isn't in so we head to Redicare. It was quite obvious that many of them did not have alot of experience with infants, though they were all very friendly and helpful.
They did everything imaginable to my poor little 5 month old baby. Starting with taking his temperature in the most inconvinient location. They stuck stuff up his nose, they pinned him down, they took his blood, they gave him shots, they strapped him in a contraption that looked like a medival torture device to take a chest x-ray. The result came back with Pneumonia. Oh and double ear infections They had used about 6 or 7 different machines to take his blood oxygen levels since it kept reading between 80-83 at which levels they said he should be hospitalized, and yet his coloring was very pink all over. So they sent us home and told us to check on him several time throughout the night and to bring him in if we saw any blueness. Poor little baby.
Or course we called both the Grandpa's over for a Priesthood blessing as soon as we got home.
He slept most of that day again.
Of course we also gave him some all natural remedies to help his own body do it's job. And we gave him probiotics to offset the harmful side effects of the antibiotics.
The next day he wasn't 100% but it was close. He was moving again and smiling again, even giggling sometimes!
He'd really only cry when he coughed or when his ears were hurting.
Now about all that's left is a very slightly runny nose, if you could really even call it that.
I'm so glad to have my baby back to normal. Though now he's back to not sleeping at night......
I must admit that was the silver lining to it all. When he was sleeping at night because he was so ill, I got some much needed rest and was a much better caretaker the next day.
But obviously I'd much rather have a healthy baby! He is just so sweet and so cute!

Dawson's first foods: Jamba Juice!

So Dawson was looking mighty interested in my Jamba Thursday morning so I let him play with the cup for a bit. But that just wasn't good enough for him. He kind of smacked his lips and gave me a look that said "I'm ready to try solid foods mom!" And what I had handy was Jamba Juice!

Yes he really liked it!

Then he tried to eat the wash cloth after we were done!